After TCOT Sleepwalker's Niece
by Eternal Crush Haver
Summary: Just a piece of fluff after Perry and Della leave the Coles at the airport. Again, I'm a romantic so I love writing about each of them figuring out they love each other. I hope you don't get bored.


After TCOT Sleepwalker's Niece

_Perry and Della are at the Los Angeles International Airport with his newly married (and newly freed) client, Peter Cole and his wife Lucille as they prepare to board a plane to Honolulu for their honeymoon. Their flight is called and the lawyer and his secretary see them off at the gate. As they turn to walk back to the car Perry takes Della's elbow and says, "I hope he doesn't walk in his sleep." Della quickly responds, "After 15 years?" Perry raises his eyebrow and the pair continues out to the parking lot._

This is where my story picks up.

The two hadn't spoken since they left the Coles at the gate, each lost in their own thoughts. As they reached Perry's black Cadillac convertible, he reached for the handle of the passenger side door and opened it for his lovely companion. She turned her back to the seat, smiled up at Perry and sat down, gracefully folding her long legs into the car. The attorney shut the door, crossed behind the car and got in behind the wheel.

Before starting the engine, he looked over at Della and inquired, "What exactly did you mean back there about 'after 15 years'?" She supposed she should have anticipated his question. Della was always trying to find some way to hint about their relationship, hoping that one day, Perry would finally wise up and move things to the next level. After all, Della figured out she was in love with the handsome attorney with the striking blue eyes just days after she became his "confidential" secretary. And, she was simply too conservative and traditional to consider bringing it up herself.

Her heart pounding, in a soft voice that was almost a whisper, she uttered, "I just meant that 15 years is a long time to wait to be with someone once you've fallen in love." Della's eyes never left her lap, since she feared that all Perry would need to do would be to look deep into her eyes and her secret would be out, once and for all.

"I see. That does seem like a long time to wait. Maybe they didn't," he said matter of factly, staring out the window.

"But, maybe they did. Some people believe in tradition and would never do anything outside of the bonds of marriage," she said with a bit more force than she felt.

Perry turned to her and said, "Look at me, Della. Would you wait?"

Della twisted her body to gaze directly into her employer's eyes. "That's a little personal, don't you think?" The corners of her mouth turned up slightly as she said this, hoping against hope that today, of all days, might be the start of a deeper relationship.

"Do you not want to answer me," he asked, knowing that he was treading on thin ice. His feelings for Della had changed once he spent a few days with her, appreciating her charm, beauty and grace. However, he wasn't exactly sure of the exact moment he'd fallen in love with her. He just knew that everything looked better and seemed easier when she was by his side. Perry could only imagine what spending the night together and waking up with her next to him in the morning would feel like.

Della replied, "No, I'll answer you. I wouldn't want to wait. If I was truly in love, I'd want to spend as much time with him as possible, no matter what."

Then, using his best attorney voice, he said, "Miss Street, have you ever been truly in love?"

_Great_, Della thought. A direct question. Now what am I going to do?

Della took a deep breath and replied, "I have and I am. And, before you ask, both are the same man."

Perry felt a tremor in the pit of his stomach. This wasn't turning out the way he had hoped. Della had apparently met someone and fallen in love, all under his nose. When did she have time, he wondered?

Della moved closer to Perry when she saw that he had been shaken by her statement. She decided to turn the tables on him.

"What about you," she asked in her best Perry imitation.

"What about me, what," he retorted.

Della's lips turned up in a slight smile as she stared deeply into his eyes. "Have you ever been truly in love?"

All of a sudden, it all made sense to Perry. He was about to answer Della saying exactly what she'd said to him. With a big grin, Perry reached out to draw his beautiful secretary closer to him as he said, "I have and I am."

Della's voice was sultry as she responded, "I wondered how long it would take you figure out what I meant."

Their lips met in a warm, somewhat tentative kiss, as each knew their life would never be the same.


End file.
